I have been saying for years that the left hates federalism and wants to centralize power in DC. Here is an article from Real Clear Markets discussing it.
A Word On the Left's Anti-Federalism Agenda
On Tuesday, as Senate Democrats were falling short of passing S. 1, their 800-page voting bill dubbed the “For the People Act,” I found myself testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee against a not unrelated bill, S. 51, the “Washington, D.C. Admission Act.” Aimed at turning most of the nation’s capital into our 51st state, S. 51, like S. 1, has earned the support of not a single Senate Republican (or House Republican concerning H.R. 51).
What links the two bills? The nationalization of elections, the reduced role for states in elections, and that’s only a start. Here’s a primer.
A month ago, 39 scholars, mostly law professors, sent a letter to congressional leaders assuring them that S. 51 faced no constitutional problems, contrary to what others have long thought, including Justice Departments from the time of Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Even the hurdles presented by the 23rd Amendment, which enables D.C. residents to vote for presidential electors, could be overcome, the scholars averred.
Not so fast. S. 51 would create this new state from today’s District of Columbia by reducing the District—the seat of the federal government, as provided for under the Constitution’s Enclave Clause in Article I, Section 8—to a tiny enclave around the National Mall. But there will still be some residents living there, including the first family, and this “District” will still have three outsized Electoral College votes, pursuant to the 23rd Amendment, votes that cannot be taken away by a mere statute like S. 51.… we have here [in S. 51], like the ongoing movement by many to create a National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a small corner of the larger movement now going on in the country to nationalize elections; to reduce the role of the Electoral College; more broadly to reduce the role of states in our federal system; and, at bottom, to convert the nation from a constitutional republic to a nationwide majoritarian democracy, precisely what the Constitution’s Framers sought to avoid, and for good reason, individual liberty.
They’re not trying to hide behind their finger—give them credit for that. Progressives have long had trouble with the states as states, as separate sovereigns, for that allows “a race to the bottom.” Indeed, if people can vote with their feet, as competitive federalism allows, where will it all end? By contrast, modern cooperative federalism, as Judge James Buckley explained in his wonderful 2014 book, Saving Congress from Itself: Emancipating the States & Empowering Their People, enables Congress to work hand-in-hand with the states to create one nation under rule from Washington. At last, we can all be in this together. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
S. 1 and S. 51 are of a piece. We need to recognize what that piece is. It is not the one the Founders had in mind.